The last day Department of Natural Resources deer check stations will be open is today.

Though most hunters have already packed it in for the year, hunters fortunate to kill a deer during this late archery season could play an important role in future management decisions by making the effort to have their deer checked.

“We get a lot of really good data from check stations,” said Brian Mastenbrook, Department of Natural Resources biologists out of the Gaylord office. “We can’t afford to have as many as we used to. If we could afford it, we would have more.”

A host of information is gleaned from every deer reported to a check station. The information collected is meant to benefit biologists and help shape future management decisions, but much of it is of interest to hunters as well. Age, body weight, antler size, and the area from which the animal was harvested is all collected and charted.

According to Mastenbrook, all the information that’s collected is used to take an in-depth looking into the health of the area deer herd.

“We know hunters will travel about 20 miles to visit a check station, but any farther than that and they’re probably not going to do it,” he said.

As would be expected, some check stations fare much better than others.

According to Mastenbrook, as many as 300 deer are checked at the Mio check station on a given day, while the Gaylord check station only sees about 80 deer on a busy day.

Hunters thinking about having their deer checked shouldn’t hesitate for fear of the wait. The average deer check takes roughly one minute, two if the head is being removed for TB testing.

Check stations aren’t the only method the DNR uses to collect data on the deer harvest, but they are the most hands on.

After each deer season, the DNR sends questionnaires to randomly selected hunters to gather details on success, hunting effort, and other variables. The results of these surveys are coupled with the information collected at check stations to paint a picture of the completed season and help make management decisions for the following year.

The Gaylord check station, located at 1732 West M 32, is the only area check station still open.